CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. The Concept of Reading Comprehension Ability
2. The Concept of Reading Comprehension
Lapp and Fisher state that comprehension is reader‘s ability to interact with information in the text and also the reader‘s background experiences with the topic and language of the text.16 In these senses, comprehension is the understanding of the text which involves reader‘s interaction and prior knowledge to get information in the text.
Meanwhile, Parris and Stahl Reveal that comprehension is not a simple process because it needs delicate interaction of several component processes that connect information in a text with reader‘s background knowledge and experience.17 From these statements, it can be assumed that comprehension is
15Ibid., p.122
16Diane Lapp and Douglas Fisher, Essential Reading on Comprehension, (Newark:
International Reading Association, 2009), p.2
17Scot G Paris and Steven A Stahl, Children’s Reading Comprehension and Assessment, (New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers , 2005), p.71
a complex process where in comprehending the text the reader integrates their prior knowledge and the text to obtain meaningful information.
Furthermore, according to McNamara ―…comprehension is not always effortless and fast, of course. When beginning readers struggle over individual words, reading is slowed to a near halt and deeper levels of comprehension are seriously compromised‖.18 In this sense comprehension is not the ability how fast the reader can find the information in the text but how effective their comprehension to comprehend the text.
Besides, Guthrie, et.al state that reading comprehension consists of the processes of constructing conceptual knowledge from a text through cognitive interaction and motivational involvement with the text.19
Concerning to the reading comprehension strategies that should be implemented by the students for their successfulness in reading comprehension, Duffy asserts some strategies to comprehend the text as follows20:
18Danielle S. McNamara, Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, Interventions, and Technologies, (New Jersey: Erlbaum Associates, inc., Publishers, 2007), p. 4
19John T. Guthrie et.al, Motivating Reading Comprehension, (New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2004), p. 227
20Gerald Duffy, Explaining Reading: A Resource for Teaching Concepts, Skills , and Strategies,(New York: The Guilford Press, 2009)p. 101
1) Predicting
Predicting is fundamental in reading comprehension because predicting involves the activation of reader‘s prior knowledge.
Predicting is the strategy in which the reader makes the prediction based on purpose for reading, topic clues, and the type of text being read. It is done to anticipate what is in the text which entails the use of prior knowledge.
2) Monitoring, re-predicting, and questioning
Monitoring, questioning, and re-predicting are the strategic heart of the comprehension process. First, the process not only happens in a very short time, but it also is invisible. Second, it is personal where the students cannot exactly mimic what they do because the process depends on individual prior knowledge. Third, it is tentative where predictions are made and then must be abandoned and replaced by new predictions.
3) Imaging
Imaging is a strategy that requires readers to use prior knowledge and to predict. In this case, the prior knowledge that the reader uses is experience with words and descriptive language.
Readers use what the descriptive language makes them think to create an image.
4) Inferring
Inferring is a strategy to read between the lines or to get the meaning but it does not state directly in the text. In this case, the reader must note text clues, access prior knowledge associated with those clues, and then predict (or infer) what the meaning is.
5) Lock-Backs
Lock-back is a strategy of fixing the meaning of the text in which the reader does not make sense on unusual meanings.
Therefore, readers search backward and sometimes forward in a text to remove a meaning blockage encountered while reading.
6) Finding main idea
Finding main idea is a strategy to determine the main idea where the readers must understand that the authors write because they have some important ideas to convey. Consequently, determining the main idea the readers must question where the author is placing value, or emphasis.
7) Finding theme
Finding theme is a strategy to determine the theme that the authors write. Like main idea determining the theme the reader must questioning the author in a search about what the theme maybe and reasoning about how the clues go together to convey a theme.
8) Summarizing
Summarizing is a strategy to create a brief retelling of a text.
It includes the main idea or theme and it is focus on brief description. It means the summarization result must be connected each other in each paragraph that represent the whole paragraph.
9) Drawing conclusion
Drawing conclusions is a strategy that requires the readers to be proactive in finding the clues in the text, thinking about what those clues trigger in prior knowledge, and making a prediction about what the author wants us to conclude on the basis of what makes sense in terms of past experience.
10) Evaluating
Evaluating is a strategy in making judgment about the message contain in the text or what the author saying to decide whether the story is fact or fantasy.
11) Synthesizing
Synthesizing is a strategy that requires the reader to combine information within a source or across several different sources. To understand of it all, it is necessary to synthesize, or combine, information and createa single understanding from a variety of sources.
There are many other strategies that can be used to develop the student‘s reading comprehension ability. Several strategies are describe above, the strategies has different styles to use by the students depend on student‘s characteristics.
3. The Concept of Reading Comprehension Ability